Inventory, materials handling, and fulfillment center systems, such as those in materials handling centers, warehouses, distribution centers, and custom-order manufacturing facilities, face challenges in gathering requested items from inventory. For example, as the inventory of items at these centers grow, the time and effort required to execute the larger number of picking, packing, storing, and other inventory-related tasks becomes more and more of a challenge.
For automated inventory systems, the inefficient utilization of system resources including space, time, equipment, and power can result in lower throughput, unacceptably long response times, an ever-increasing backlog of unfinished tasks, and poor system performance. Additionally, the modification of automated inventory systems often requires significant changes to existing infrastructure and equipment. Thus, the cost of even incremental changes can be prohibitively expensive in many cases, limiting the ability of automated inventory systems to accommodate fluctuations in demand.